Fears that Germany might have fallen out of love with Volkswagen appears to be short-lived.
Over two thirds of German consumers (65 percent) believe that the embattled German carmaker still builds "outstanding" cars and that the emissions scandal was overdone, a recent survey by market research firm, Prophet reveals.
Out of the 1,000 German adults questioned in an online survey, 63 percent either agreed or strongly agreed that the emissions scandal would be forgotten and, within a year, no one would be discussing the affair surrounding the rigged diesel engines.
On top of this, 91 percent of those surveyed believed that Volkswagen isn't the only automaker to cheat on its diesel-emissions test. So far, no other car manufacturers – not owned by Volkswagen – have confirmed of any illegal malpractice.
On October 15th 2015, Volkswagen said that it would recall around 8.5 million diesel-engine cars in the European Union. While this puts German automakers under further scrutiny, 60 percent of German consumers believed the "Made in Germany" brand wouldn't be damaged by the scandal in the long-term.
When the news broke in September, the scandal was described as a "massive blow" to the firm, with the company believing that some 11 million cars were affected by the emissions test worldwide.
Automotive and brand specialists suggest that the best way the embattled automaker can recover its global standing is to rebuild its reputation with customers.
"Getting this reputation issue solved is a Herculean task. I'm not sure how they will approach this and how they will get consumer confidence over time," Christian Ludwig, automotive analyst at Bankhaus Lampe told CNBC's Worldwide Exchange, adding that the company may try to fix it with money.
"Volkswagen is getting their act together," Gonzalo Brujo, EMEA & Latin America's CEO for Interbrand told CNBC, adding that there are some key strategies they must now follow.
"They have to be very agile, very fast with their decision-making and definitely they have to be 100 percent transparent with the consumers."
"I think they are doing everything behind the scenes to work against the crisis and solving every single test point, to make sure that at the end of the day, the consumer is happy with the cars that they are buying."
—By CNBC's Alexandra Gibbs, follow her on Twitter @AlexGibbsy.
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